Posted by randy albin
a resident of Mountain View
on Feb 24, 2014 at 10:50 am

who would have thought that something like this would be going on? learn about the technology. once you're cooking, try to figure out how you can afford the cost of living. give this a try and see if you can figure these applications out

Posted by Citizen
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Feb 24, 2014 at 11:13 am

I don't have the skills or time to build this app, but applaud the city for this open source call. As a "user" of local democracy, I would really like to see an app that allows citizens across town to participate remotely in city meetings in real time. Something that allows some data collection, too, so Council knows how many and why people are participating, can poll them, etc. and allows remote users to submit written or video comments. I'd like one of these for school board meetings, too!

I would really like a way for everyone to quietly let the Councilmember speaking know that no one buys what they are saying, effectively, a BS button every member of the public can press that will be tallied and if exceeds a certain level, will let that Councilmember know they should perhaps stop and think a moment or do a better job explaining. If they get buzzed again, they'll know to really rethink it. While such a truth-o-meter should not interrupt a meeting, it's results should be available minute by minute and relatable to the video and minutes afterwards. There should lso b an Amen-to-that button that lets members of the publc express a strong support, again, not disrupting the meeting, but quietly letting the member speaking know, and making the info available later. Perhaps only after a controversial matter has been hashed out? Don't know.

Someone spoke at a City meeting this year to say that other cities are already doing remote participation, so perhaps someone can take a look and give us something even better...

Posted by APPropriate
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Feb 24, 2014 at 11:48 am

Great idea, but it does not ensure that the city council will listen to the residents any better than they do now. The real,problem, unaddressed, is that the powers that be appear to listen, then do the exact opposite of what the majority asks for.

Maybe, hopefully, they will respond better to an app, which is visual, than to words spoken to them at council meetings, which are auditory. Maybe they all have auditory processing problems and an app will get through to their brains better,

Posted by Resident
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Feb 26, 2014 at 5:38 pm

On a day like today we could have an app telling us about flooded roadways and whether the creeks are likely to overflow. There are a lot more cars on the roads because people who normally bike are in cars. Technology could certainly be helpful on rainy days.

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